Second Amendment Protects Right to Open Carry, Federal Appeals Court Rules

Jul 27, 2018

By: Teresa Mull

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, based in liberal San Francisco, ruled Tuesday in favor of a man whose permit to carry a firearm openly had been denied twice by his local chief of police; the court ruled the Constitution guarantees law-abiding citizens’ the right to open carry.

The Washington Examiner reported:

“Once identified as an individual right focused on self-defense, the right to bear arms must guarantee some right to self-defense in public,” Judge Diarmuid O'Scannlain wrote for the majority. “While the concealed carry of firearms categorically falls outside such protection, we are satisfied that the Second Amendment encompasses a right to carry a firearm openly in public for self-defense.”

Writing for the majority, O’Scannlain said that while “we do not take lightly the problem of gun violence … for better or for worse, the Second Amendment does protect a right to carry a firearm in public for self-defense.”

“While the amendment’s guarantee of a right to ‘keep’ arms effectuates the core purpose of self-defense within the home, the separate right to ‘bear’ arms protects that core purpose outside the home,” he wrote.

“Attorney Alan Beck, who represented [plaintiff George Young], said Hawaii County never issued a carry permit in 20 years,” Snopes.com reported. “Young, a Vietnam veteran who spent 21 years in the infantry, couldn’t find anyone to represent him in his case and wasn’t even allowed to argue his case in a lower court.”

“It shouldn’t have to come to this, that an upstanding citizen who served in the military to protect our country is forced to go to court to have his constitutional right to protect himself upheld,” Dudley Brown, president of the National Association for Gun Rights, told Gunpowder Magazine. “Nevertheless, this ruling is a huge win for gun owners, especially coming out of ultra-progressive California. There is definitely still much work that needs to be done, but this ruling is encouraging and is a step in the right direction.”